Saints struggling to find identity

Good offense, bad defense has led to an 0-4 start and a bad loss last week to Denver.

November 05, 2012|By Kevin Noonan, Special to The Morning Call

PHILADELPHIA – — If you think the Eagles have had problems this season, well, welcome to the dysfunctional world of the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints and Eagles play on Monday night at the Louisiana Superdome and this has not developed into the prime-time matchup the people at ESPN envisioned when the NFL schedule was released back in April. Both teams were touted as Super Bowl contenders then, but both have losing records as the NFL season approaches its midway point and both have had to deal with major distractions. In the Eagles' case, it's been a mistake-prone quarterback and a fired defensive coordinator; in the Saints' case, it's been Bounty-gate and a suspended head coach.

The Saints' situation is well known — the NFL came down hard on them because of a system where players were allegedly rewarded for devastating hits on opponents. Coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season and defensive assistant Joe Vitt was suspended for six games — he has since been reinstated and is now the Saints interim coach.

Whether or not that turmoil is the reason, the Saints got off to an 0-4 start and even though they came back to win their next two games, they got hammered last Sunday 34-14 by Denver — the same day the Eagles got hammered 30-17 by Atlanta.

"The first four weeks seem so long ago, and that was our winless stretch there, 0-4,'' Saints quarterback Drew Brees said this week. "If there's one thing to say, with the exception of last week I feel like we have gotten better every week in all phases. That Denver game was an extreme disappointment. It was an embarrassment. It was not the way we play. It's not who we are.''

So, who are they? First of all, they're Brees, the record-setting passer who already has one Super Bowl ring. He's the most prolific passer in the game right now and he has plenty of talent around him, including wide receiver Marques Colston (40 receptions for 580 yards and five touchdowns), tight end Jimmy Graham (30-315-4) and a one-two punch at running back of Pierre Thomas (257 rushing yards) and Darren Sproles (323 yards and four TDs receiving and 117 yards rushing), though their rushing average if low.

But eventually you have to move to the other side of the ball and that's where the Saints are the worst in the game, at least statistically — in a 32-team league they're ranked 32nd in total defense, 31st in rushing defense and 30th in passing defense.

Said Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg: "They've been struggling a little bit … a little bit more than a little bit."

And whether the bounty scandal and its aftermath are the reasons why the Saints have struggled so much or not, it's something they can't escape.

"We've fought through a lot of things, like trying to eliminate the distractions of the bounty,'' Brees said. "The only question people ask are, 'What's it like not having Sean here?' and 'What's it like with the whole bounty thing?'

"It seems like a never-ending saga. But in the locker room, we're as tight as ever and, unfortunately, things didn't go our way the first four weeks."

Vitt grew up as an Eagles fan in Blackwood, N.J., and he was an assistant with the Eagles from 1995-98, when he was linebackers coach under Ray Rhodes. And Vitt said the loss of Payton has had an impact, but he also said the coaches and players aren't using the bounty situation as a reason for their slow start.

"At the end of the year, when I go in and I try to get another contract, I certainly can't use this as an excuse for failure,'' Vitt said. "When our players go in and try to get their new contracts, they can't moan and whine that the reason they missed a block or missed a tackle or threw an interception or dropped a ball is because they had 'Bounty-gate' hanging over their heads.

"Everyone is responsible to do their job and everybody gets evaluated on a daily basis,'' Vitt added. "So, it's really not talked about around here."